Which operation would you perform first in the expression 5 + 3 × 4?

In the expression 5 + 3 × 4, the order of operations, often remembered by the acronym PEMDAS (Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication and Division (from left to right), Addition and Subtraction (from left to right)), dictates which operation to perform first. According to this rule, multiplication comes before addition.

In this case, you first address the multiplication part of the expression: 3 × 4, which equals 12. After performing this multiplication, you can then proceed with the addition: 5 + 12, leading to a final result of 17.

Understanding the order of operations is crucial in mathematics to ensure consistent and correct results. Therefore, the correct approach to evaluating the expression involves performing multiplication before addition.